I want to let you all know first that this is a very honest confession, one that is hard to put out there but by doing so I think it will help me thing through everything. I like "seeing things in print" and I value your opinions.
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Church....I love my Church I love what it represents that it is reaching out to others and inviting them in. I love the people in it, they are my local family. But because of the outreach mission of my Church 70% of the time the sermons are very well... basic. Again there is nothing wrong with this but I'm finally in a place where I want to learn, I want to know the history and the background not just the stories. I've got the basics down. Don't get me wrong I have no plans to leave my Church that would honestly hurt to much. These people were with me during the hardest parts of my life and are now celebrating the good times with me. I have no desire to leave I just have a desire to learn. We do have small groups and the point of those are to feed the 'non-beginners' so to speak. However the series we are doing isn't what I thought it would be. It is more a discussion about common "rules" of Christianity and challenging their merit. There isn't a lot of study to it like I thought there would be. I've been doing some studying on my own and Ry and I are going to start soon (he has a much more in depth background than I do.) so that is exciting to me.
I wish there could be a happy medium. but those Churches just don't make it in this world. You have to the either or.
So here is the contemplative part. The question I guess. My Church does a good job of clearly stating that Church is for the seekers and Bible study is where we get the meat. Why don't other seeker Churches do this??? Have we become so complacent that these basic sermons are enough? Do we just go to Church because we are supposed to and really aren't paying attention? I'm glad that there are Churches out there for the new Christians but if we the 'long time' Christians are going to them without any other supplement (devotions, Bible study, etc.) how are we learning anything?
3 comments:
Eaglebrook likes to tell us "You are resonsible for your spiritual growth..." they give us the tools to grow spiritually but put it on us. I have really liked the way they do this.
Simply put, the role of the Church as an institution put in place by God is primarily to discipline, instruct, teach, feed God's people with His word so that His people can go out into the world with the good news of the gospel and live a life that effects culture rather than being shaped by it, that is, it's where we should be learning to live the faith so that we are ready by our examples and with appropriate answers for the lost and searching.
The Church is also meant to fulfill the roles of taking care of the poor and sick and widows and orphans, etc. A failed Church is one which neglects these at the expense of instructing in wisdom and/or seeking the lost.
theDakotan
AMEN!
This is the first time I've seen you one here thanks for speaking up.
This has been a constant area of struggle for me (finding the 'right' Church) I greatly appreciate your input. I've have been blessed with a husband who has a lot more Biblical knowledge than I and have been learning a lot from him, the small group I'm in is changing subjects soon and I think we are going to do something a little deeper than we are now, that is exciting to me.
Forever learning~
Amber
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